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Wednesday, 30 November 2016

A change for the December Butterfly Challenge with a theme of 'All kinds of Fairies, Elves, Gnomes and Pixies'. This time my project is a framed picture. (The faint white lines going through the image are just a reflection on the glass.)

The box frame is from Ikea. I inked the background of the picture with Adirondack 'Denim' ink and an Ink Duster, masking off the moon. I used one of the Lavinia Celtic Dreams dies with black card. Sadly, these dies are no longer made. For a finishing touch, I added tiny flowers punched from snippets of pink card. For the centres I added a spot of green Nuvo Crystal Drops.

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

I missed a few challenges last week as I was unexpectedly working all week, but the Butterfly Challenge finishes today, so I got my skates on and made a card to sneak a card into the challenge before it closes. The theme is 'Butterflies + N is for Not Square and/or Navy'.

I started by die cutting a navy base card using a Presscut 'Scalloped Semi-Circle' die, although it looks more like black in the photo. The Lavinia butterfly stamp is coloured with three shades of yellow for the wings and two shades of blue for the body. The whole butterfly was then covered with a clear Wink of Stella glitter brush to make it sparkle. The image was matted and layered using Sue Wilson 'Pierced Pinpoint Circle' die cuts. I wanted to add a sentiment, but didn't want it to detract from the beautiful image. I drew a VERY faint line using one of the circle die, so I could position the white MB 'Uppercase Alphabet Soup' letters. I then erased the pencil line.

Monday, 28 November 2016

The Rudolph Days challenge runs from the 25th until the end of each month, so I've made my card with just a couple of days to spare.

The stamp is part of a Heartfelt Creations set which I was given in a goodie bag a few years ago, but I don't think I've ever used. I stamped the image using Versafine 'Onyx'. The word image is die cut with a MS 'Stitched Rectangle' die and layered on a Sue Wilson 'Double Pierced Pinpoint Rectangle' silver mirror card die cut. The stars are punched from mirror card.

Thursday, 24 November 2016

After thinking I had a fairly quiet week to do lots of crafting and blog visiting, I been teaching all week, covering teacher who is out sick. I've got a stall at a charity craft fair on Saturday and I'm really behind with the last minute things I was going to finish - so it looks like it might be a busy evening tomorrow! Hopefully I can catch up with my blog visiting next week.Today's card is a card I made a little while ago, but haven't got round to posting on my blog until now.

Friday, 18 November 2016

The Less is More challenge this week is a One Layer with the theme of Books/Literature. This has has me stumped all week, until I started thinking of children's books this morning and the ideas just kept on coming! I settled on 'The Snowman' by Raymond Briggs.

The Woodware snowman stamp is stamped with Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and coloured with Promarkers. The berries are Nuvo Crystal Drops - I just love this new product for making pearls! I had a few more colours from a friend for my birthday, so I think I may be using these a lot on my cards in the coming weeks. I wanted a sentiment which reflected the snowman in the story and this one seemed perfect. It's from a Papermania set, stamped with Versafine 'Onyx' and I added a clear gem to give a bit of sparkle.

A second snowman card, this time with a pre-coloured digistamp from Beccy's Place.

The sentiment is computer generated and I added a MB 'Twilight Snowflake' die cut in the corner of the MB 'Stitched Square' die cut. The embossing folder I used is by Crafter's Companion, but I think it might be discontinued now.

Sunday, 13 November 2016

We've just spent a few days in Devon, closing down our caravan for the winter. My two great-nieces and great-nephew (aged 5, 7 and 8) came up to the caravan on Friday to give me this amazing birthday card that they'd made together. They even remembered there are lots of rabbits on the caravan site which appear at night, so they drew some brilliant rabbits and did a little fussy cutting.

I had a lovely birthday on Friday, with a long walk along the beach in glorious weather, a trip to the theatre, as well as the visit from my three favourite little people.

Onto my card for today. I made several of this design over the last few days.

I used a Sweet Dixie 'Christmas Present'. I die cut it in black, then again in green, using the green waste holly leaves to inlay into the spaces. The berries are a fabulous new product I've discovered recently - Nuvo Crystal Drops. They form a perfect round dome shape every time, in whatever size is needed. So much easier than using pearls and no chance of them dropping off.

Tuesday, 8 November 2016

The Butterfly Challenge this fortnight is 'Butterflies + Q is for Quotes and/or Quick Silver'. I thought that this quote was perfect for the challenge, particularly at this time of year.

I covered a card blank with pearlised silver paper. The quote is computer generated and printed on white card. I positioned the quote in a Sheila Douglass 'Frosty Ice' embossing folder so it appeared in the plain part of the folder, before running it through my Big Shot. The butterfly was die cut in white and silver using Poppystamps 'Elsa Butterfly' and 'Lyndon Butterfly' dies. The butterfly is attached just in the middle and foam pads make the wings stand up. Three clear gems were used for the body to add a bit of sparkle. I finished off my card by adding some MB 'Twilight Snowflakes' die cuts in the corners. Snippets of white and silver were used for the butterfly and snowflakes, so I'll be off to share my card in the Playground.

Monday, 7 November 2016

I was thrilled to have the quilt Christmas card I made HERE printed in this month's 'Quick Cards Made Easy' magazine.

Another poppy card today.

I embossed a white piece of card using a freebie embossing folder that came with a magazine. I cut off the the top half and replaced it with a piece of black card, which I'd embossed with a Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder. I made the poppies sometime ago with a borrowed pair of Tonic punches. The two punched flower shapes interlink and I added tiny black punched flowers for the centres.

Sunday, 6 November 2016

A CAS poppy card today. Poppies are significant in the UK as a symbol of remembrance, particularly at this time of year as Armistice Day is commemorated on November 11th.

I stamped the image, Stampendous 'Poppy stems' with a Memento ink pad before lining up the image in the embossing folder to ensure it was in the middle. The embossing folder I used was Couture Creations 'Bon Jour', which has a blank panel across the middle. I turned it round so the blank panel went down. The image was coloured with Promarkers. I added three red Card Candi and a sentiment to finish off the card.

Saturday, 5 November 2016

The Less is More Challenge this week is a colour challenge - Purple and Gold, so I Iooked through my dies for some inspiration.

I decided to use a set of Lin and Lene dies I bought at a recent craft fair. The set came with the cage and three different birds and had 75% off! So the whole set cost not much more than a cup of coffee, my bargain of the day! I die cut the cage with gold mirror card, then used the die cut as a template on a snippet of white card. The bird was attached to the back of the cage die cut, before backing with the white card. I used the side of a large MB 'Stitched Rectangle' die to cut across the purple panel. The sentiment is attached with foam pads.

Tuesday, 1 November 2016

A second post today to sneak in a last minute entry for the Butterfly Challenge. For some reason I thought we were in week one, but suddenly realised we're a couple of hours away from the end of week two when the challenge finishes! I seem to have lost a week somewhere!

The theme of the challenge is 'Butterflies + H is for Hoops and/or Harebell'. Harebell....not really blue and not quite purple, but somewhere inbetween. After unsuccessfully trying to find any card or paper of the right colour, I turned to my Promarkers. As bluebells and harebells are the some colour, I used the 'Bluebell' Promarker to colour some white snippets of card. I used these to die cut the butterfly and mat the sentiment and I also coloured round the edges of the white card blank with the Promarker before adding the embossed background. The butterfly is a SB die cut, the die sadly discontinued, layered on a MB stitched circle die cut, with foam pads. I used a Darice 'Bubbles' embossing folder which looks like hoops, for the background.

The Less is More Challenge is celebrating its 300th challenge - what an achievement! The theme this week is Celebrations and Festivals.

I used a Sweet Dixie 'Wine Glass Celebration' die, which I cut first in black and then used some snippets of red to die cut just the hearts and flower, using the same die. The sentiment is computer generated.

About Me

Welcome to my blog. In March 2012, I decided to cross another thing off my 'bucket list' and create my own blog. Why 'Crafty Sunflower'? Well.... for the last 13 years of teaching fulltime, a job I loved, my Reception class was called Sunflower Class. For more than 13 years I've collected anything sunflower related! I've enjoyed a variety of crafts for as long as I can remember and these days making cards is what I enjoy most. Having benefited from the inspiration of others, I hope to pass on some of my ideas to anyone who visits my blog. If you use any of my ideas please put a link back to my blog. Please do not copy my cards for competitions or publication.